Fishing again in England! Pike and Zander this time around!

I had such a great time fishing the first time in England, that I had to go again! Back to the waters where I had that great, amazing day of hooking and landing trout after trout. This time though, I wanted to target some other fish species that I couldn’t get the first time there. This is due to the fishing changing with the seasons so that means that the fish change their feeding habits and swim patterns as well. It makes sense as the food sources change with the seasons (certain bug hatches at different period of times can spark the fish to target it).

My good ol’ guide, Thomas, picked me up at the train station and off we went. He asked me if I wanted to go fish this small fishing spot – he never tried it in a few years so might as well try a cast and see what I get, ya know?

And guess who got lucky on the first cast?? ME! I won the Pike Lottery! On the first ticket! Go and punch my number in!

Took me a few minutes to reel in this bad boy in. I’ve had some first casts that yielded fish but this might be one of the biggest surprises of all time because I wasn’t expecting it. Initially, I was going to experiment with my casts and reeling in but bam! Got it netted successfully!

Thomas had this bag that I’ve never seen before but it’s great because you can wet it, measure the fish, and then let the fish go with minimal damage/harm to the fish.

After casting a few more times and no bites, we proceeded back to the big waters where I landed so many trout. With European Pike now off the fishing bucket list, it was time to go after Zander and European Perch. Anything else would be a bonus! Time to cruise for fish!

Zander #1. Took awhile but I caught one! First walleye-species caught on a fly rod! All Zander on these waters are catch-and-release.

Zander #2. It was the same size as the first one. But always fun to know that it was a double at least for the day.

Zander #3. I started noticing that they are getting bigger as the day went on. I know that they are night-hunters so maybe they start waking up as the sun goes down.

Zander #4. This one was a lot whiter and bigger than the previous ones which were greener. I think this one has been living in the darker, deeper waters than the green ones which live in the shallows.

Zander #5. I actually caught 2 other Zanders but one of them shook the hook out and the other had the line snap on me as I was bringing it into the boat. Thomas claimed that the last one was at least 5 pounds but I never saw it.

I also tried going for trout (Brown and Rainbow) using a fly rod with dry flies but they were really tough to hook up and land. I got a few to hook up but every time they would spit the hook out. But I was okay with zero trout because I caught a Pike and several Zanders. I had my trusty guide to take me out to these great places – he can’t get the fish to bite and stay hooked. But he can play dentist so we can properly catch and release these fish because he thinks that someday a record Zander might come out of these English waters. And if we continue to catch and release, there is a good chance of that!

There’s Thomas with a pair of specialized tweeters to get the fly/hook out of the fish’s mouth.

And to top off the day, I had an amazing sunset. It was really nice – not too cold, not too hot, just a perfect summer evening to think about the great day of fishing that I just had. Well, maybe hooking up a European Perch would have been nice…

This place had an amazing sunset. I think the only places that I have seen a sunset like this are in Puerto Vallarta and La Paz, Mexico.